The Free State Government has introduced a Public Safety Bill
which seems to follow in some respect the British Emergency Powers Act and to outstrip it in severity in others. A State of Emergency may be de- clared, and'drastic action taken. The main object seems to be to get powers to deal with the indefensible " Irish Republican Army," which exists as a standing challenge to constituted Government. No Coercion Bill passed at Westminster was ever quite so drastic. The powers taken to arrest and deport and the extension of the death penalty to the offence of carrying hidden arms - indicate the determination of the Government to allow no repetition of the anarchical violence of which Southern Ireland has had such bitter experience. Mr. Cosgrave has also intro- duced a Bill to counter Mr. de Valera's scheme for getting into the Dail without taking the Oath of Allegiance. This Bill entails a Constitutional amendment dealing with initiation by Referendum. The Labour Party violently opposed the second reading of the Public Safety Bill and walked out of the Dail when it was carried on Wednesday. * * *
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